Blog:
Mobility Is More Than a Physical Concept With JIE

The environment is striving to allow users to take their capabilities with them anywhere.

A key tenet of the Joint Information Environment (JIE) will be the ability of users to have access to the same information system capabilities regardless of physical location, according to Defense Information System Agency (DISA) officials. Speaking on the final day of AFCEA’s three-day JIE Mission Partner Symposium being held in Baltimore May 12-14, the panel of officials described the importance of mobile capability as well as connectivity.

David Bennett, DISA chief information officer, explained that the JIE is leveraging mobile capability to allow the desktop to follow the user regardless of the user’s location—or platform. The same capabilities inherent in the user’s desktop would be available on a tablet, for example.

This effort is focusing on developing an operating capability that will work as seamlessly on a mobile platform as on a desktop. Accordingly, developing a mobile application becomes just as important as delivering on the desktop. Industry will play a key role, he noted.

“We need industry to help us understand and think through what it means to provide a capability from a platform anywhere in the world and deliver it to a desktop without spending a lot of time and effort—and meets the performance requirements the customer expects,” Bennett stated.